Forgotten Truths, Remembered Lies
by Lialane Graest
Summary: He walked, eyes unseeing, in a straight line. The soles of his stitched shoes had long since worn away, and the woman in his arms was limp and hadn't moved in what felt like a very long time. Still he walked, even if the destination had been forgotten sometime in the past, because he knew that he had to make it there with the woman. SteinxMarie.
1. Chapter 1

He walked, eyes unseeing, in a straight line. The soles of his stitched shoes had long since worn away, and the woman in his arms was limp and hadn't moved in what felt like a very long time. Still he walked, even if the destination had been forgotten sometime in the past, because he knew that he had to make it there with the woman. It was incredibly important, for some reason he had also forgot.

His lab coat was torn and ragged, and did a poor job of protecting the still form it was wrapped around from the elements. It was still better than nothing; the woman needed protecting. If only he could remember her name. He was sure that it would come with time, when she opened her eyes and moved again.

'_If she does.'_ The voice in his mind was oddly familiar, but he couldn't place a name to it, and he just dismissed the voice.

"She will," he said hoarsely, "I'll make sure of it."

The woman in his arms didn't respond to his voice, and he tightened his grip on her. The analytical side of his mind tried again to resurface, but he pushed it down, embracing the madness that was the only thing that was keeping him walking now. A sadistic grin slipped across his face and he quickened his pace, the sand he walked across tearing into the soles of his feet. He was oblivious to the pain. The only thing that mattered was getting to wherever it was that he was going before the woman died.

If she wasn't already dead.

* * *

"Stein!" Someone was screaming that word over and over, and the man could feel something touching his shoulder, shaking it. His eyes were so heavy though, that he didn't want to open them, wherever he currently was had to be better than wherever he would be when he opened his eyes, and so he ignored the voice.

The voice wasn't content to be ignored though, and he suddenly felt something hit his face, knocking his head to the side. Agony shot through him and his eyes flew open. Everything was blurry, and it took a long moment for his vision to clear enough to see the red headed face staring down at him.

"Thank Death, Stein!" Spirit looked close to tears. "We were afraid that we'd lost you and Marie!"

_Marie._ The woman suddenly had a name, Stein realizing belatedly that he was lying on the ground and his arms, for the first time in as long as he could remember, were empty. He bolted upright into a sitting position, and nearly fell back against the ground again, his entire body protesting the movement.

"Marie." The man's voice was strained and hoarse. "Marie!" His voice was slightly louder as he tried to struggle to his feet. Spirit didn't stop him, just supported him as he stood, his feet barely willing to support him as his legs quivered. Spirit's hands slipped underneath his shoulders, helping him support himself.

He could just barely see her still form, his lab coat covering her from her neck down. There was no movement at all, not even the slightest rise and fall of her chest. "Marie!" The scream tore itself from a throat that shouldn't be able to produce sound at all after the torment they had both went through.

Then he saw it, just the slightest movement of her head, a weak breath. Relief rushed through him as his legs nearly buckled. Spirit supported the taller man, helping him move the few feet to Marie's side; it felt like a mile to the scientist.

He hit his knees beside her, his hands shaking as he brushed hair out of her face. A bandaged hand caught his before he could do anymore and he found himself staring up into Nygus' face. "You need to rest, Stein. We'll take care of Marie." The weapon said, glancing up at Spirit who just nodded, the other man's hands slipping underneath Stein's armpit and giving the man a slight pull backwards.

Stein tried to struggle, but in his condition he didn't have the strength and he watched as he was drug a dozen feet away from the woman. He sat down heavily when Spirit released him, just staring at her. The man's hand settled on Stein's shoulder.

"She'll pull through, Stein. I don't know how you got the two of you out of there, but you did. She'll pull through, and it's all thanks to you." Spirit's words were gentle, his touch light.

Stein didn't hear or feel any of it. His gaze was captured by one thing, and one thing only. The flicker in Marie's soul, the truth to the lies that his so called friends had just told him.

Marie Mjolnir was dying as he watched, her soul clinging desperately to a body that couldn't sustain it.

Stein didn't speak as they placed him on a stretcher that had just arrived, strapping his weak body down before loading him into the helicopter. He didn't speak as they loaded Marie's limp form in the same fashion, Spirit and Nygus loading in with them.

Spirit and Nygus held onto the dangling straps, their bodies rocking each time the helicopter hit turbulence.

* * *

Stein lost consciousness again sometime during the flight back to Shibusen, and he opened his eyes to the interior of the academy, IVs running in his arms and hands, a breathing tube down his throat. He noticed as he tried to raise his hands that they were bound to the bed along with his feet.

He turned his head to the side and saw Spirit sitting beside his bed, his head leaning against the wall. Exhaustion covered the death scythe's face and he was fast asleep, his chest rising and falling slowly. Slowly Stein turned his head to the other side and focused on the woman in the bed next to his.

Marie was barely breathing, even with the breathing tube, but her soul looked more stable and Stein allowed himself a sigh of relief. It wheezed through the breathing tube and he heard the unmistakable sound of Spirit waking suddenly, even it was quiet.

"Stein, you're awake! Let me go get Nygus so that she can take that tube out of your throat." Stein was unable to nod or do much beyond turn his head towards the man.

A few moments later Nygus came back in and started the process of removing the breathing tube. She left the IVs in and Stein swallowed, suddenly realizing how very dry his throat was.

"How… long?"

"Three days, Stein." Spirit took the cup of ice chips from Nygus and awkwardly ran one against Stein's lips before letting it fall into the scientist's open mouth.

Stein realized that nothing he had had before tasted as sweet as that ice chip. He was silent for a while as Spirit gave him another, sucking and swallowing the water bit by bit.

"Marie?" He asked quietly as Spirit gave him a third.

"She's stronger than she was, it was touch and go, but Nygus says she'll pull through. Thanks to you, Stein."

The scientist licked his lips. "Why restraints?"

Spirit hesitated, giving Stein another ice chip. "You were… violent. Nygus had to sedate you. You kept screaming for Marie, and we couldn't keep you still. You didn't seem to recognize anyone of us, just kept screaming her name and trying to leave the infirmary. Nygus was afraid that you'd interrupt the surgery if she didn't have you sedated."

"Surgery?"

"Marie had to have some surgery to stop some internal bleeding. Nygus said it looked like she had been beat pretty severely…" Spirit's face crumpled as he looked over at the woman and he took a deep breath. "Marie's a strong woman though."

Stein wasn't listening, he was remembering the Hell they had went through.

* * *

**A/N: Next chapter- you will see that Hell.**


	2. Chapter 2

He had been chained while they beat her. He had struggled against the chains, but was under orders to not doing anything that would arouse suspicion, that they had to endure. Shinigami-sama himself had asked it of them.

If he had known what they were getting into, he would have said no. He had been forced to watch these men work the two of them nearly to death for the last 2 weeks, and then each night, watch them beat Marie into unconsciousness before they turned on him. They were sadistic amateurs, but he had to admit that brute force was one way to keep a work force in line.

Marie collapsed against the wall beside the other woman who was being beat, and he watched as the guards drew back their feet to kick the nearly unconscious woman.

"Stop!" The scream tore itself from his throat before he could stop it.

The guards looked up at him and he gritted his teeth as they moved to him.

"Got us a martyr, do we? Which one are we sweet on?" The lead guard teased, as if talking to an old friend.

Stein spit, and they cut his bonds loose dragging him in front of the women. Marie lifted her head for a second, but then it fell back to look at the ground, blood running down her chin, her eye blackened and her face bruised.

"This way they can see what you're doing for them," a guard laughed, and drew his fist back, slamming it into Stein's face. The fist crashed into his face again, but he refused to move. Marie was nearly unconscious, huddled against the wall behind him with another woman, and Stein wasn't going to allow them to harm her any further.

That unfortunately meant that he would be taking whatever punishment they had in store for both women. His face was impassive though as they came towards him holding a red hot poker. It slid into his side and Stein nearly screamed, the metal piercing deep into his abdomen, searing everything that it came in contact with. Steam billowed from the wound briefly as they withdrew the poker and he hit his knees.

The man holding it laughed, placing the tip back in the fire and Stein took a shuddering breath, glancing over at Marie and the other woman. Both had been beat severely, and he wasn't even sure if the other woman was going to recover.

The feel of the poker touching his neck made him hiss out in pain, but he refused to move, knowing that the pain would be ten times worse if he did. Burns would heal; damage to his throat when he had no way to perform surgery could kill. The man holding the poker placed his foot on Stein's chest and kicked the meister backwards, causing him to sprawl out, the guards placing their feet on his arms and legs as the man reheated the poker a third time. Stein gritted his teeth, wondering where the poker was going to land this time.

It was his chest, and he jerked, succeeding only in pressing the poker deeper against his flesh as the other man looked down on the stitched skin. "Seems someone else got to him first, doesn't it, boys?"

The assembled group laughed, and one of the men looked over at the two women. They stepped away from Stein, the leader grabbing Stein's screw and yanking upwards, forcing the meister to stand up awkwardly.

"Hey, boss. He seems to have a thing for that blonde one. Let me have her for a bit, see how he reacts." There was laughter in the man's voice, and Stein felt himself tense.

The leader laughed. "Do whatever you want, like I give a fuck."

"I'll kill you all," Stein growled out, "if you even think of touching her."

The man was already loosening his belt. "Yeah, right. You're as dangerous as a teddy bear." The others laughed as the man knelt over Marie's now unconscious form, her blood pooling around her.

He touched her shoulder, and Stein acted. It took but a thought to send the man in front of him flying, his wavelength having already dealt with the man; he wouldn't be waking up again. A second later Stein had the hot poker in hand and buried through the man's skull that had touched Marie's shoulder, the man mewling pitifully as his body refused to believe for a long moment that he was dead.

He turned to look at the other four, and was through them, a whirlwind of death, before they could even get to the safety of the only building in the entire area. Stein took a shuddering breath as he finished, his long finger gently lying against Marie's throat, testing her pulse. It was weak, but stable. The other woman wasn't as lucky.

She was dead.

Stein just shook his head, and wrapped his tattered lab coat tightly around Marie's still form, hoping it would be enough to staunch the flow of blood. He moved to the building, sitting the unconscious death scythe against the wall before stepping in and quickly dealing with the seven souls that were inside. He growled as he found that there were no medical supplies, but he grabbed the papers they had been sent to get.

'_A damn waste. Two weeks of being tortured, in an effort to get these papers without arousing suspicion. It may have cost Marie her life!'_ Stein's grip tightened on the papers and he hurriedly folded them to avoid destroying them. _'Shinigami-sama will have to accept that I was not going to allow Marie to be killed or raped as long as I was alive.'_ He slipped the papers into his lab coat's pocket and picked the unconscious woman up gently, resting her head against his chest. He made one stop before leaving- and that was to destroy the lock that held the rest of the captives. He split the small amount of rations that had been in the building with them, and then walked out into the night with Marie.

* * *

**A/N: Flashback to the why he was in the desert walking, carrying a limp Marie.**

**I don't own Soul eater.**


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